Madresahs and Moravians. Muslim educational institutions in the Cape Colony, 1792 to 1910

Abstract

The vigorous revival of Christian missionary activity after 1792 with the return of the Moravians and the arrival of the London Missionary Society had little effect on Cape Town Muslims. By 1793 the Dorp Street school (madrasah) was established. By then, many of the males slaves and the free black population in Cape Town were securely Muslim. The success of the Cape Town Muslim clerisy owed much to the schools the imams established in all the colonial ports and some inland towns during the nineteenth century. In academic discussions of the “first” or “oldest” school in the country only European schools are mentioned. There is no reason for this omission. The author reviews the rise of the Cape madrasahs.”